Tuesday, March 17, 2009

SCULPTURE: "SamuRhino"


Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved sculpture. I grew up watching all the wonderful movies featuring stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen...fantastical creatures brought "magically" to life. I also enjoy looking at plastic model kits...one of my favorite childhood memories was of assembling and painting a model of Superman smashing his fist through a brick wall. As an adult, I've become a big fan of artists who create limited edition sculptures for collectors and for the toy industry. I also love to see all the "pre-production" sculpts done for science-fiction movies, where characters are developed for animation..."maquettes" that are scanned into computers to be turned into a CGI model.

So "for fun" I decided a few years ago to start playing around with sculpting my own "action figure". I had read up on the process of using wire-frame armatures, with aluminum foil added to build up some of the bulk of the creature. After sculpting the figure with polymer clay (specifically "Super Sculpy") which could be baked in a kitchen oven, the piece could be painted with acrylic paints.

"SamuRhino" is one of my first attempts. It stands about 9 inches tall.




I am currently working on a series of 3 sculpted pieces that should be finished soon. I've taken lots of photos to show the "step-by-step" process. More to come...
-W

4 comments:

Jenni said...

cool dad- like the site :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me of some of the things you did as a kid...I hope I had something to do with encouraging your natural bent.....This is going to be lots of fun for me, too. Mom

Olive Oil said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Olive Oil said...

This is very cool